Would you?

[Buran]

I saw the movie Big Fish the other day.

(semi-spoiler)

At one point the main character meets a witch who foretells how people will die when they look in her eye.

He asks to look, reasoning that if he knows the manner and time of his death he doesn't need to be scared at any other event in his life.

Would you look and why?

Personally I'd rather not know...

[rose]

...If you see how you are going to die, can you change or avoid it?

Or is it a rule that even if you foresee your death, you cannot avoid it?

The latter depends on the existence of fate; i don't believe in that, so i'll answer the question assuming the future is changeable.

And in that case, i would defintely look, and then try to avoid that demise.

[Gwynfyd]

I'd look. I hate uncertainty. It would be reassuring to me to know exactly when and how I was going to die, not to mention the benefits of being able to plan ahead for the welfare of my family.

Plus I'm stuck with an irresistable sense of curiosity. I couldn't NOT look if given the opportunity. :)

[zephyrine]

No.

I secretly believe that I am immortal, and I'd hate to find out it isn't so.

[Cajun Man]

This thread is better suited for In My Humble Opinion (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=12). I'll move it for you.

Cajun Man
for the SDMB

[Ephemera]

No. I want to believe that I will die at 110 while in my sleep but would hate to find out I die at 23 when I choke on an almond.

[Antigen]

I wouldn't want to know. If she tells me I'll die in a car accident, then I'll spend the rest of my life afraid of cars, since I'd never know which one might hit me.

Even assuming she'd tell me exactly how and when it would happen, I wouldn't want to know. I would live dreading that day, thinking about it... I prefer blissful ignorance.

And of course you'd have no power to change that future. She's a witch with magical powers! Any prophecy from a witch or gypsy always comes true, in the movies. So if I'd desperately try to avoid cars for the rest of my life, living secluded in a forest cabin, someday a plane carrying a shipment of Toyotas would explode overhead, and I'd be squashed flat by half of a flaming Corolla.

[elfkin477]

Hell no. I have trouble imagining living to be middle aged now, imagine how depressing it'd be if it was true.

[Delly]

I wouldnt ask.

I would end up dreading that moment for the rest of my life... and thats something I dont want.

[Gatopescado]

Yes.

[Sqube]

I think that, given enough time, most people would. This idea is based on something that Edgar Allen Poe suggested, and it's called...
The Imp of the Perverse (http://www.4literature.net/Edgar_Allan_Poe/Imp_of_the_Perverse/2.html). In a nutshell, you'd do it because it was the one thing that you know damn well you don't want to/shouldn't do.

[Cosmopolitan]

I'm going on the assumption that it would be "fated" for me to die in a certain manner despite the fact that I don't buy into the idea of fate.

That being said: Hell no, I wouldn't wanna know the manner of my death! Ignorance would be bliss in this particular scenario.